In support of constituency demarcation
Masih Malik Chowdhury | Wednesday, 2 July 2008
THE Election Commission (EC) has recently redemarcated parliamentary constituencies. Preparation of the voters roll and delimitation of constituencies are vital responsibilities of the EC, which it has been doing or is in the process of doing. The voters' roll is in the process of finalisation while the delimination of constituencies has already been done.
The former MPs, whose constituencies have been distorted, are vocal against the redemarcation for their own sake.
The reconstitution, a necessity, was done to remove the discrepancies in the number of voters' between constituencies.
The EC has done it without any malafide intent and to comply with the responsibility assigned to it by the Constitution of the Republic.
According to the 2008 statistical pocket yearbook, the country had a total of 74.9 million (7.49 crore) voters. So, on an average voters, per constituency, should be around 250,000 (2.5 lakh), based on 2004 statistics.
The EC has only redistributed the voters to remove the imbalance of the electorates between the constituencies. The EC had no other intention. The changed scenario alarmed the former MPs, who want to contest in the coming parliamentary polls.
They are afraid of the challenges posed by the readjustments, making their constituencies smaller or bigger, either by dropping some voters or including new ones.
The lowest number of electorates was in Dhaka - one with only 119,000 (1.19 lakh) voters. Dhaka's 13 constituency 481,400 (48.14 lakh) voters or on an average 370000 (3.7 lakh) voters per constituency against the national average of 250000 or 1.5 times the of national average.
Was it not unfair for the MPs of Dhaka to represent more voters than the MPs of other constituencies? Against 119,000 for Dhaka-1, Dhaka-2 had 198,000 voters. Dhaka - 3, 4, 5 ,6 and 7 respectively had 389,000, 488,000, 633,000, 469,000 and 337,000 voters. Was it fair for constituency to have 633,000 voters while the neighbouring constituency has 119,000?
The redemarcation should have been done long ago. Dhaka-11 and Dhaka-13 had 627,000 and 225,000 voters.
The disparity should have been addressed by the EC long ago. This can be termed as the darkness beneath the lamp, as Dhaka hosts parliament as well as the Election Commission.
The constituencies with both the highest and the lowest voters were in the vicinity of the EC. The EC rightly took up the delimination.
The easy reallocation was done not to confront or protect the interest of politicians. The discrepancy could not be allowed to continue.
The following tables show the distribution of voters in select constituencies before the delimination:
The EC should ensure equitable representation in parliament for all the electorates by competent representatives. All the electorates ought to have access to their MPs.
The writer is a former Treasurer Bangladesh Economic Association and a Chartered Accountant.
The former MPs, whose constituencies have been distorted, are vocal against the redemarcation for their own sake.
The reconstitution, a necessity, was done to remove the discrepancies in the number of voters' between constituencies.
The EC has done it without any malafide intent and to comply with the responsibility assigned to it by the Constitution of the Republic.
According to the 2008 statistical pocket yearbook, the country had a total of 74.9 million (7.49 crore) voters. So, on an average voters, per constituency, should be around 250,000 (2.5 lakh), based on 2004 statistics.
The EC has only redistributed the voters to remove the imbalance of the electorates between the constituencies. The EC had no other intention. The changed scenario alarmed the former MPs, who want to contest in the coming parliamentary polls.
They are afraid of the challenges posed by the readjustments, making their constituencies smaller or bigger, either by dropping some voters or including new ones.
The lowest number of electorates was in Dhaka - one with only 119,000 (1.19 lakh) voters. Dhaka's 13 constituency 481,400 (48.14 lakh) voters or on an average 370000 (3.7 lakh) voters per constituency against the national average of 250000 or 1.5 times the of national average.
Was it not unfair for the MPs of Dhaka to represent more voters than the MPs of other constituencies? Against 119,000 for Dhaka-1, Dhaka-2 had 198,000 voters. Dhaka - 3, 4, 5 ,6 and 7 respectively had 389,000, 488,000, 633,000, 469,000 and 337,000 voters. Was it fair for constituency to have 633,000 voters while the neighbouring constituency has 119,000?
The redemarcation should have been done long ago. Dhaka-11 and Dhaka-13 had 627,000 and 225,000 voters.
The disparity should have been addressed by the EC long ago. This can be termed as the darkness beneath the lamp, as Dhaka hosts parliament as well as the Election Commission.
The constituencies with both the highest and the lowest voters were in the vicinity of the EC. The EC rightly took up the delimination.
The easy reallocation was done not to confront or protect the interest of politicians. The discrepancy could not be allowed to continue.
The following tables show the distribution of voters in select constituencies before the delimination:
The EC should ensure equitable representation in parliament for all the electorates by competent representatives. All the electorates ought to have access to their MPs.
The writer is a former Treasurer Bangladesh Economic Association and a Chartered Accountant.